Pen culture demonstration cum awareness programme at Chhattisgarh under Scheduled Tribe Component
Chhattisgarh,4th June, 2023
Chhattisgarh is a landlocked and heavily forested state located in Central India. The State has a total of forty-two (42) Scheduled Tribes. According to Census, 2011, Chhattisgarh has about 7.5 percent of India's tribal population and tribal people form about 30 percent of the state's population. ICAR-CIFRI has taken initiatives to uplift the socio-economic status of the primitive tribal populace of Chhattisgarh by joining hands with the Department of Fisheries, Chhattisgarh.
Reservoirs and dams are the major inland open water resources in this state. ICAR-CIFRI has undertaken fish production enhancement programme in small reservoirs in Chhattisgarh through participatory mode by involving the Primary Fishermen Co-operative Societies (PFCS) of the selected reservoirs. The Institute has provided twenty numbers of pen, ten boats with engine, twenty coracles and twenty tonnes of CIFRI Cage Grow feed in ten selected small reservoirs in Chhattisgarh viz. Taurenga, Baherakhar, Sutiapath, Matiamoti, Koserteda, Rabo, Ghunghutta, Gej, Keshvanala.
Pen culture intervention is a tool to raise in situ fish seed in the reservoir which will not only improve the production of the reservoir but also reduce the cost of production, subsequently the livelihood of the fishers will be improved. ICAR-CIFRI organized Penculture demonstration programme in collaboration with DOF, Chhattisgarh in five small reservoirs viz. Baherakhar, Sutiyapath, Rabo, Paralkot and Ghunghutta of the state during 24th May to 4th June,2023 aiming to raise in situ fingerling in the pen for enhancing the production of the reservoir cost-effectively. Two scientific teams demonstrated CIFRI HDPE installation and stocking in the selected reservoirs. After the demonstration sensitization programme was organized at the reservoir site to aware the beneficiaries about the importance of Pen culture for fish production enhancement in the reservoirs. A total of 340 tribal beneficiaries attended the demonstration cum awareness programme.
The programme was coordinated by Dr. A. K. Das, Pr. Scientist; Sri Satish Koushlesh, Scientist; and assisted by Sri Kaushik Mandal, TA, Shri S. Debnath, Shri Suraj Chouhan and Shri Snigdho Deb Barma of ICAR-CIFRI under the guidance of Dr. B.K Das, Director, CIFRI.